The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto  (1764)  by Horace Walpole

The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally held to be the first gothic novel, initiating a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th century and early 19th century. Thus, Castle, and Walpole by extension is arguably the forerunner to such authors as Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Daphne du Maurier, and Stephen King. — Excerpted from The Castle of Otranto on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5

This work published before January 1, 1923 is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.